Disconnecting switch



DISCONNECTING SWITCH Filed April 2. 1927 Herber J. Crabbs BY /I1 /l l f. l

/ ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 29, 1932 v y JEROME sANDImoE PENN rowNsHmfALLEGHENYcoUN'rY, `Ann HERBERT J, cannes, or IRWIN; erErriwsrmmrzm,-` AssmNoRsi'ro: wEs'.rrNt-,urotrsE,l ELEcTmc.- yAND i fMA-NUFAQTUEING coitunrtsajn` coREoEATIoN oF rENNsYLVANIAfy c Y fmsCoNNEcriN swrrcn 1,

, vAppua'imi inea Aprnfrz,

disconnecting switches.

'It is an object of 'our lnvention to provideu a switch mechanism for interrupting theV cur rent flow in transmission lines at power houses, substations, transformer towers and n 'the shuntfrom rtwisting about in a more 'or thel like for outdoor installations, particular-y lyl where the use of an automaticrcircuit breaker would be undesirable.` n

Heretofore,`it has been the general prac-` tice, in the construction of switch mechanisms of this type, to provide a base member, a pair of spaced insulators, terminals for line wires on the insulators anda iexible'shunt vfor making and breaking the connection 'between theterminals. A pair of links is usually pro- `Will render this construction evident.

vided "for n supportingV the flexible shunt, they shunt beingso fastened-tothe support as to come into contact therewith at a number of` y ap'parentth'roughout the furtherdescription' points.

`The above-mentioned type of (.onstr'uctionl is undesirable because the friction'of theA shunt against the support `causesvwear and abrasion and also necessitates the use of con-f; siderableforce to open and close the switch', fk In Patent No. 1,705,684 issued Marchi' 19, Y

1929,A `assigned'fto VVe'stinghouse `Electric &

, Manufacturing' Company,y means is disclosed for predetermining the'positions of the flexible shuntwith respect to the support and for maintaining the shunt clear of all the membersof the switch mechanism.

In our present invention, we make one member of the link-pairin the form of a copper switch blade and arrange it to engage the stationary jaws of the switch when the Y latter is closed.L Arglance at the drawing The blade is of such length as to render the use of a very long shunt unnecessary, thereby eliminating many difficulties that arise in the case of switches where longshunts are employed.

` Vide a mechanism for causing the blade to engage, and be disengaged from the contact `jaws with a straight-line motion. The desirability of this jfeature will be obvious to these aqaaited, with y the' disconnectingswit'ch'art; c f v less haphazard manner 'and coming into 'contact, at random,fwith other parts of the switch structure, and permitting the utilization of largerstrandstor prolong the' life'of theshunt.v Another obgect of our invention is to, pro-j` videa disconnectingswitch ha-ving means for producing a camming action on the switch bladefduring its initial opening movement and'ifor :thereafter guiding the blade in a straight-line movementl with respect tol the switchconta'ctf aws;

These and other 'objects that may be made is best described kbyk refer` "ring tothe drawing wherein we provide ay base member 11; which 4supports/a, pair lof spaced insulators 12and13, terminal blocks 14'and` Y15 disposed on the respective insulatorsz12- and .13, contact jawslVY disposed ony the terminal :member 15 and a ymechanism 17 5 ffor electricallyy connectingy the terminal Gili memberll tothe cont-act jaw 16, the mechanism being adapted forefl'ecting engagement` with, ordisen'gagement from the contact' Jaws in ypredetermined. directions.

contact jaws 116 comprises av blade -18 supf' ed 'in'j any suitable ,mannenasf shown at 21V. 1

The insulator 19` hasl apin 22 :disposed on its t ,c g 90 Y The mechanism kr17 for cooperating with the i upper endgtoengage a slot 23p`rovifded in they bladeiinember'lS -to`receiveb it and adapted to form' a' los'tiinotionconnecti'm between 'the Y blade L18 'and-theLinsulatorlt).1-y l The link 241 has its lower end connected to the terminal member 14:, by means of a pivot 25 and its upper end connected to the switch blade by means of a pivot 26. The link thus supports the switch blade and predetermines its direction of travel to and from its closed position, as will be more fully explained herreinafter. A flexible shunt 27 electrically connects the terminal 14 to the blade '18, being fastened to the latter. by any suitable means,

such as screws 28. i

The usual arcing horns 29 and 31 are provided to relieve the blade 18 and contactjaws 16 of any need to break thearc incident to the opening of the switch. The arcing horn 31 1s rigidly connected'to the rotatable insulator 19 and is electrically connected to the blade 18 means, (not shown) in a counter-clockwise direction, thereby turning the insulator 19 to the left. The slot 23 is so disposed that movementy of the stud 22 therein causes a slight camming actionl upon the blade 18, thus breaking any corrosive seal or ice-coating that may have, 1formed between it and the contact jaws. The initial force effecting the actual opening movement of the blade 18 is produced by the stud 22 pressing against the lett4 face of the slot v23. The blade, being pivotally supported at one endby the stud 22 and at the other end by the pivot 26 and cooperatf ing link 24, is disengaged from the contact jaws 16, with a straight-line movement, from its closed positionV to the out position indicated bythe dotted lines in the drawing.

By the use of the blade 18, instead ofthe usual link and short contact member hereto- 1 vfore employed, we materially decrease the length of the shunt 27, thus rendering the shunt more rigid and avoiding danger of making random contacts.

The movement of the blade 18 in a straight line, as referred to above, is made possible through the link 24 cooperating with the movable insulator 19, and it can be seen that, whenthe insulator 19 moves eithertoward or away from the contact jaws, the link 24, by reason of being' pivotally mounted on `the terminal member 14 and pivotally connected to the left endrof the switch blade 18, cooperates with the insulator 19 to impart to `the blade 18 a substantially longitudinal motion, as contrasted with the rotary movement more usual in knife-blade switches.

While we have described and illustrated only one embodiment of our invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that certain changes, modiiications, substitutions, additions and omissions may be made in the mechanism without departing from the spirit and scope of theappendedclaims.

`We claim as our invention:

. 1. A` switchmechanism including contact jaws, a switch blade, having a slot therein, a

pivotally mounted insulator for actuating and supporting the blade having a projection thereon associating with the slot for engaging a wall of the slot for initially forcing the blade in a radial direction with respect to the axis of rotation of the insulator when the insulator is first moved to open the switch.

2. A switch mechanism including contact jaws, a switch blade having a slot therein, a movable insulator for actuating and supporting the blade Vhaving a projection thereon associating with the slot for engaging a wall of the slot'and camming the blade with respect to the jaws when the insulator is moved to open the switch.

3. A switch mechanism including contact jaws, a switch blade associated therewith, a fixed insulator, a movable insulator for actuating the blade pivotally mounted between thelsaidjawvs and insulator, a link pivotallyV connecting the fixed insulator and the said blade for controlling the movement of the blade, and a driving connection between the movable insulator and the said blade for imparting a relatively short bodily movement to the blade with respect to the movable insulator during a relatively long initial travel of the movable insulator toward theiopen position and for positively driving the blade with theV movable insulator after it has traveled a predetermined distance.

`In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 36th day of March.

JEROME SANDIN. HERBERT J. CRABBS. 

